Aziz Sancar Wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Aziz Sancar Wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Nobel Committee announced that the Chemistry Prize was shared between Swedish Lindahl, American Modrich and Turkish Aziz Sancar. The Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, at a press conference it held, stated that Lindahl, Modrich and Sancar were deemed worthy of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for revealing "how cells repair damaged DNA and protect genetic information." In the statement, it was noted that "the work of the three scientists provided extremely important information on how cells function, leading to the development of new cancer treatments." The statement, pointing out that human DNA is damaged every day due to ultraviolet rays, free radicals and other carcinogenic substances, continued: "However, even without such external attacks, DNA molecules have a structurally variable nature by inheritance. Numerous changes occur in the cell's genome every day. Furthermore, cells in the human body divide millions of times daily and during this process DNA is copied. Some defects emerge during DNA copying. The reason why genetic material does not fall into complete chemical chaos is that it contains molecular systems that constantly monitor DNA and repair the damage that occurs. The 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three pioneering scientists in their fields whose work revealed at the molecular level how these repair systems function." The Royal Academy introduced the three scientists deemed worthy of the prize as follows: "In the early 1970s, scientists believed that DNA was an extremely stable molecule, but Lindahl revealed that DNA actually deteriorates at a rate that would make the development of life on earth impossible. His insight enabled Lindahl to discover a molecular machine that continuously prevents DNA collapse. Aziz Sancar mapped the nucleotide excision repair mechanism that cells use to repair damage to DNA caused by ultraviolet rays. Paul Modrich discovered how cells correct errors that occur during DNA copying in the course of cell division."

Who is Aziz Sancar, Winner of the Nobel Prize?

Born in 1946 in Savur, a district of Mardin, Sancar completed his doctorate at the University of Texas in Dallas in 1977. Sancar currently teaches at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Lindahl, Modrich and Sancar will share the prize worth 8 million Swedish kronor (approximately TRY 3 million). The three scientists will also receive a diploma and a gold medal at the award ceremony to be held on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

Other Nobel Prize Winners

Tomas Lindahl: Lindahl was born in Stockholm in 1938. A graduate of the Karolinska Institute, Lindahl worked at the Department of Medical and Physiological Chemistry at the University of Gothenburg from 1978 to 1982. Lindahl currently serves as Director of the Clare Hall Laboratory Cancer Research Centre in England. Paul Modrich: Born in California in 1946, Modrich graduated from Stanford University. Modrich teaches biochemistry at Duke University School of Medicine. Source: http://www.aa.com.tr/tr/yasam/nobel-kimya-odulunu-uc-bilim-adami-paylasti/435937